The budget plan Iowa House Republicans released does not include the extra money officials who govern the three state universities requested in order to maintain a tuition freeze. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha is the top-ranking Republican in the legislature.
In December, the board that governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa voted to keep next year’s tuition for in-state students at the same rate it’s been for the past two years — if legislators provide a one-and-three-quarters percent increase in state taxpayer support of the three universities. Paulsen suggests university officials can rearrange spending priorities and keep tuition rates low on their own, without additional state resources.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs, the top Democrat in the legislature, says U-N-I is likely to get a funding boost, even if legislators reject the performance-based formula.
Under the decades-old formula for distributing state funding, the University of Iowa gets 46 percent, Iowa State gets 36 percent and U-N-I gets 18 percent.
